Kinshasa was a village on the south bank of the Congo when Stanley passed through in 1877. He returned in 1881 and established Leopoldville on the banks of contemporary Kintambo and Ngaliema. A post was opened upriver at Kinshasa in 1883. In 1923 Leopoldville was named the capital, comprising both Kinshasa and Leopoldville, established at Kalina (now Gombe), while "old" Leopoldville remained the capital of the Province. The Leopoldville-Kinshasa agglomeration was renamed Kinshasa in 1966.

June 30, 1960 - Lumumba addresses Parliament. The speech, which denounced Belgian colonialism, nearly provoked an international incident. Lumumba later offered more conciliatory remarks and the crisis was averted.

Friday, June 12, 2015

At
the end of 1923, a group of Belgian investors led by the Banque de Bruxelles
came together to build a brewery in Leopoldville.Given the pervasiveness of the golden brew in Kinshasa
today, it may seem curious that the city had already been established for forty
years before this step was taken. However, the colonial model was based on
production of raw materials by the colony and import of manufactured goods from
the metropole, including beer.Recall, as well, that the Charles Lejeune company’s first commercial
transaction in Congo was to insure a shipment of beer from Bremen to Boma in
1886 (See Aug. 1, 2013).

Imported
beer was expensive.Postal agent
Leon Tondeur reported in 1900 that a bottle selling for Fr.1 in Matadi cost
three times that in Leopoldville.When District Commissioner Costermans was assigned a warehouse manager
who happened to be a brewer, he ordered equipment from Europe and installed a
brewery opposite his office on Avenue du Roi Souverain (now the location of
INBTP on the Matadi road in Commune de Ngaliema (See Feb. 20, 2011).But, the local brew could never shake
its disparaging moniker, “liquid manure”, and the operation folded after the
second brewer died in February 1903.

A
site for the new Brasserie de Leopoldville was located on the river at Ndolo and
construction commenced in 1924.December 27, 1926, the first bottle came off the production line, which
had a capacity of 35,000 bottles per month.When the plant became fully operational the following year,
it produced 815,500 bottles of beer as well as 252,000 bottles of mineral water
and 825 tons of ice. In 1928, beer production exceeded 1.1 million bottles,
plus 720,000 bottles of water and over 2000T ice.Plans were in the works to double output.

The Brewery under construction

The Brewery nearing completion

Inquiring
minds might wonder, who was drinking all this beer? In 1928 there were about
2500 Europeans in Leopoldville and another 800 across the river in Brazzaville,
or about one bottle per person daily. The development of European breweries in
Congo and elsewhere in Africa was frequently justified on the basis of
providing an alternative to locally distilled “lotoko” alcohol or palm wine.At the time, Congolese were forbidden
to buy alcohol. An ordinance in July 1911 prohibited the sale of alcohol to
Congolese in Leopoldville between the hours of noon Saturday to Monday morning.
It was not until July 1932 that Congolese were allowed sell alcohol to other Congolese,
which led to the establishment of a number bars in the Cite (an informal
color bar prevented Africans from purchasing in European establishments until
the late 1950s). Palm wine was popular, though limited by lack of a significant
number of palms that could be tapped within a radius of the city; allowing the naturally
fermenting beverage to remain fresh (See Feb. 12, 2012).Some enterprising Congolese in
Bas-Congo shipped “bidons” of freshly tapped wine on the railroad, but this was
not a significant source for a town of 40,000 in 1930.

Sofrigo ice plant in foreground, established in 1928

The
Depression nearly sank the brewery.Incomes and purchasing power declined and a significant number of its European
clientele lost their jobs and were repatriated to Europe.This loss of market no doubt
contributed to the decision to allow the sale of beer to Congolese.The company’s marketing campaign was
lackluster and its less-than-premium product was priced at only 1 franc less
(10 francs) than Beck's Beer imported from Germany.During this time, Dutch brewer Heineken invested in the
Brasserie de Leopoldville.

Advertisement from 1933 ("Etoile de l'AEF", Brazzaville)

Anticipating 7-Up's "uncola"campaign by four decades

In
1933, a new brewer, Anselme Visez, was hired with a mandate to purchase new
equipment to improve the quality of the beer.The brewery introduced three grades of Primus and rolled out
a new line of carbonated drinks.Within a year, Visez claimed steadily increasing sales despite a
declining market and stiff competition (such as Beck’s and Holsten which was marketed
by Sedec). The Brewery hosted influential visitors to further get the word
out.The Touring Club du Congo
Belge toured the facilities in September 1934, praising the ultra-modern
equipment that precluded any contact between the workers’ hands and the liquid,
a procedure “not to be scorned in Africa”. Governor General Renard of French Equatorial Africa
visited from Brazzaville in December 1934. After inspecting grain storage
facilities, fermentation tanks, the brewing hall, bottling line and sampling
the product, he told Visez that his beer was better than the imports, and he
should know, as he “consumes it regularly”. Throughout the 1930s, the brewery
continued to expand production.The company marketed Coolerator iceboxes, manufactured in Duluth,
Minnesota, to enable customers to keep their beverages cold (with blocks of ice
purchased from its ice plant, bien sur).

An advertisement from 1934 (note production levels are not quantified)

New brewing equipment - 1930s

When world war broke out in 1940, Brasserie de
Leopoldville joined the fight. At
the time, bottles were shipped in 24-count wooden crates enclosed in
basketry. The crates were so
flimsy and prone to breakage that Otraco, the state shipping agency (See Oct. 31, 2011), refused to accept them as
cargo. Citing the importance of maintaining the morale of up-river customers
providing raw materials for the war, the brewery persuaded the authorities to
declare beer part of the war effort.
The Brasserie also sent regular shipments of beer to the Allies in
Nigeria. In September 1943, the “New Columbia” left Matadi for Lagos
with 600 tons of beer. Called “Congo juice” in the bars of Apapa, merchant
seaman Harold Taylor of the “Thurland Castle” recalled loading a cargo of empty bottles destined for Matadi in December
1944 and returning with full ones.
In Leopoldville, consumption in licensed bars in the cité had increased to such an extent
that missionaries pressured government to impose restrictions. This initiative
was supported by certain industrial firms concerned about the impact of drinking
on productivity. The reduction
measures enabled the brewery to meet its contract with Nigeria and keep
Europeans in the bush well supplied.

Bottles from the Brasserie were recovered from the
wreck of the “Thor”, which sank off
Milford Haven in Wales, December 18, 1943.

Leopoldville’s
Territorial Administrator assigned to the Cité,
Emmanuel Cappelle, estimated sales there in 1946 at 500,000 bottles a month,
worth 50 million francs per year, surpassing consumption of palm wine. The Brasserie embarked on an upgrading
and expansion program to serve this burgeoning Congolese market. Architect Charles Van Nueten designed
new buildings. When completed in
early 1948, management reported to shareholders that the product was esteemed
for both quality and cost and held up to the competition. This allowed the
company to raise prices for the first time since the Depression. Beginning in 1947, the brewery
allocated 2 million francs per year to a welfare fund, today the Fondation
Bralima. Anticipating electric
power constraints of a growing capital, the company obtained a concession to a
potential 200 HP hydroelectric site on the Ndjili River (which explains why the
Quartier of Ndjili Brasserie in Ndjili Commune does not have a brewery). In 1947, as well, construction began on
a bottle factory, Bouteillerie de Leopoldville, on the Route du Camp Militaire
(Sgt. Moke) in what is now Quartier Socimat. The company also began building a brewery in Bukavu, the
capital of Kivu Province that was developing into a region of white settlement
similar to the Highlands in Kenya.

Brasserie de Leopoldville in the 1950s

The facade of the building designed by Van Nueten - 2010

The
Brasserie’s venture into new markets was likely driven by the arrival of a
competitor in Leopoldville, the Brasserie du Bas-Congo.Bracongo’s investors included the Belgian
Brasserie de Haecht (controlled by retail and ranching firm SARMA) and two breweries
recently established in Stanleyville (Kisangani) and Luluabourg (Kananga). It constructed
its facility (also designed by Charles Van Nueten) near the mouth of the Funa
River in Kingabwa, part of the rapidly developing industrial zone of
Limete.The construction forced
the displacement of a Bateke fishing community. During excavation work, the
discovery of a number of cowries indicated the presence of a prehistoric
settlement here.The Bracongo
brewery was completed by Auxeltra-Beton in 1954.

Heineken
and the Brasserie de Leopoldville merged to form Brasseries Limonaderies et
Malteries Africaines (Bralima) in 1957.At Independence in 1960, Bralima operated breweries in Leopoldville,
Bukavu, Stanleyville and Boma, as well as one in UN mandate territory of
Ruanda-Urundi.In 1959, Bracongo,
along with affiliated breweries in Stanleyville, Luluabourg and Paulis, merged
to form Unibra.

Wednesday, June 3, 2015

Hilton
Worldwide signed a franchise agreement in March with Africa Hospitality
Investments to renovate and reopen the former French Embassy and Hotel Stanley
as the “DoubleTree by Hilton Kinshasa – The Stanley”.The property is expected to open in 2016 and will be
Hilton’s 37th hotel in Africa.Africa Hospitality Investments was incorporated in Mauritius in December
2014.

The former French Embassy, looking down Ave. Tchad towards Blvd. du 30e Juin

The
Stanley was built in the late 1950s opposite the Memling Hotel (See Mar. 29, 2011) at the intersection of Avenues Moulaert
(now Tchad) and Stanley (now Bas-Congo).It was built by the Damseaux family, proprietors of the original Stanley
on Ave. Hauzeur (Wagenia), which became the Musée de la Vie Indigène (See Mar. 27, 2011).

The site of the Hotel Stanley in 1956 - Blvd Albert 1er (30e Juin) runs left-right across center of the image

In
1954, the Frigos Damseaux company requested bids on nylon carpet for a 40-unit
apartment hotel it was constructing in the capital. By 1959, the hotel,
described as 50% complete, was up for sale at an asking price of $560,000.The nine-floor structure had a 20-car
basement garage, ground floor and mezzanine and the top six floors offered 12-13
double apartment-style rooms featuring deluxe bathrooms, air conditioning, and telephones.
The public areas included a restaurant, bar, a beauty salon, an office for a
travel agency, a small store and a patio with a small pool. The builder would
complete all construction, leaving decoration and furnishings to the buyer.

The Stanley in the late 1950s

At
Congo’s Independence June 30, 1960, the Stanley Palace Hotel was billing itself
as, “A New Hotel in Leopoldville --The most comfortable in town and one of the best
in Western Africa”.The
United Nations delegation to the Independence ceremonies, led by Ralph Bunche,
Jr., lodged there.When the army
mutiny July 5 precipitated Belgian military intervention and an exodus of
expatriate civil servants and others running the government and essential
services, UN Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold asked Bunche to stay on as his
personal representative.An
African-American diplomat who received a Nobel Prize for negotiating a
cease-fire between Israelis and Arabs during the war that followed the
declaration of the State of Israel in 1948, Bunche was experienced to conflict.But Leopoldville in July 1960 was a
scary, unpredictable place. On July 8, Bunche wrote a letter to his son on Hotel stationary in a guarded tone that suggested he realized it might be his
last.Heavily armed soldiers had
burst into the hotel and ordered all residents into the lobby where some were
manhandled roughly.They could
hear shots in the city, were restricted to the hotel and the airport was
closed.

Bunche
began to put in place a UN peacekeeping operation.On July 15, the first Ghanaian and Tunisian troops
arrived.The head of Unicef,
Maurice Pate, arrived on July 18 to organize the humanitarian relief effort and
established his base of operations in the Stanley’s flower shop.The UN Force Commander, General Carl
von Horn arrived on July 21 and took over rooms at the hotel for his command
headquarters.Bunche brokered a
deal July 23 for UN troops to replace the Belgians deployed around the country,
and importantly take over patrolling the streets of Leopoldville.That same day, Bunche and his entourage
moved to the Le Royal apartment building on Blvd. Albert, which eventually
became the headquarters of the UN operation in Congo (See Mar. 19, 2011).

Ralph Bunche (standing left) holds a press conference in lobby

India
and Israel initially opened embassies in the hotel, but when France decided to
open an embassy in Leopoldville in 1963, it acquired the entire building.A Centre Culturel Français opened in
January 1965.During the second “pillage” in January 1993, Ambassador
Philippe Bernard was killed in his office by a shot from the street.The official verdict, accepted by
France, cited a stray bullet, but some suggest it resulted from a failed
assassination plot targeting opposition leader Tshisekedi wa Mulumba.In 2010, the Embassy moved to renovated
premises of the former administrative offices of Utexafrica on Ave. Mondjiba (See July 3, 2011).

A view of the former French Embassy in 2012 with new construction at the rear of the building

Hilton
Worldwide originally planned to launch its Kinshasa operations in the Congo
Trade Center under construction on Ave. Wagenia (See July 3, 2011).But these plans hit a snag in
2012 when the CTC developer would not agree to modify the design to meet
Hilton’s requirements.The
renovated “DoubleTree by Hilton Kinshasa – The Stanley” will offer 96 rooms,
three restaurants (including one on the roof), a business center, three
conference rooms and a fitness center. DoubleTree by Hilton’s global head, John
Greenleaf, reports the company looks forward to “welcoming guests with our warm
service and signature chocolate chip cookie”.

Congo Trade Center nearing completion. The Sheraton chain is reported to be negotiating with the owner.

Wednesday, May 27, 2015

Last
week Surbana International Consultants of Singapore signed a contract with the
Kinshasa Provincial Government to provide master planning services, including a
Regional Structure Plan covering the 9,900 km2 extent of the Province and a
detailed master plan for the capital (2500 km2).This is the firm’s largest master planning contract to
date.A privatization spin-off of
Singapore’s Housing and Development Board, the company has prepared master plans
for Kigali and residential sub-division plans in Nigeria and has broad
experience in commercial, industrial, health care, hospitality and aviation
projects.

Surbana's vision for Kigali, Rwanda

Urban
planning in Kinshasa has a long history, beginning with District Commissioner
Moulaert’s platting the cité streets and residential lots in 1912 (See Apr. 30, 2011), establishment of neutral zones
separating Congolese and European neighborhoods in the 1920s (See July 31, 2011), District Commmissioner Dendale’s
creation of the “Nouvelle Cité” in the 1940s, the ambitious Office des Cités
Africaines construction in the 1950s (See Sep. 30, 2011) and the
optimistic plans and strategies elaborated by the French-supported Mission
Francaise d’Urbanisme (MFU) in the 1960s which led to creation of the Bureau
d’Etudes et d’Amenagements Urbains (BEAU) in 1973.In 1967 the government acknowledged the phenomenal growth of
the capital by creating the 24 Communes that comprise the City-Province today. At the same time, the MFU produced a
comprehensive development plan for the City. The plan was only haphazardly implemented and immediately
overtaken by events. Mobutu was only interested in cherry-picking certain
aspects, while Commune and traditional authorities platted and sold raw land in
a checkerboard, sprawling pattern without provision for attendant streets and
storm drainage, installing utilities or inclusion of community infrastructure
such as commercial zones, education or cultural space.

Urban Growth in Kinshasa 1950-1975 (Flouriot, 2005)

More
recently, the Kabila government has invested in reconstructing and upgrading
the urban infrastructure inherited from the colonial period.Major arteries include Blvd. du 30e
Juin and the Avenue Mondjiba extension, Blvd. Patrice Lumumba, and Avenues Poids
Lourds, Huileries and Pierre Mulele (Liberation). Joint ventures to develop
residential subdivisions in vacant (and not so vacant) sites are springing up around
the city (See Mar. 20, 2015).

Ave. Pierre Mulele at the Universite Protestante du Congo in Commune de Lingwala

In
2013, the Agence Francaise de Développement contracted the French planning firm
Groupe Huit to develop a plan for the Hotel de Ville (City Hall).The plan (Schéma d’orientation
stratégique de l’agglomération kinoise – SOSAK) rolled-out in August 2014 covers
a 15-year planning horizon to 2030 and prioritizes expanding the street network
and public transit to access new commercial and residential areas for a growing
population, and open up enclaved neighborhoods. SOSAK would further upgrade
existing quartiers, bring land use
practice in harmony with the environment and promote the development
recreational and cultural zones throughout the capital.

The General Development Plan would consolidate existing infrastructure and develop new areas northeast towards Maluku

One
element of the companion Development Plan (Plan Particulier d’Amenagement) for
the northern section of the city would eliminate the last vestiges of the second Neutral Zone, which includes Ndolo Airport and Camp Kokolo.The 1967 MFA plan proposed relocating a
new town center there, taking the pressure off Blvd. 30e Juin and Commune de la
Gombe, which is certainly acute today.Although Mobutu erected some monumental projects, including the Palais
du Peuple and Stade des Martyrs, these were not part of a coherent vision for
the area, nor intentionally integrated with the urban fabric of the surrounding
area.SOSAK would close Ndolo
Airport, one of my favorite urbanization projects (See. Jan. 27, 2014), allowing Blvd. Lumumba to reach Blvd. 30e Juin at the Gare
Centrale, while intersecting with an extended Avenue Triomphal, which would
become a major east-west arterial paralleling 30e Juin. Most of the development
opportunity zones in the Plan are located along Ave. Triomphal.

In
choosing yet another planning firm, the Kinshasa provincial authorities seem
more intent on “planning to plan” than grappling with the knotty challenges of
implementation.There is so much
public and private investment occurring in Kinshasa at this time that would
contribute to realization of the SOSAK framework and become more enduring
assets for today’s and future Kinois.No matter what final plan is adopted, the government
must today confront the need for political will to implement such a
transformative vision of a future Kinshasa and transparently enforce existing
land use and land tenure regulations.